WORLD HABITAT DAY

With a rapidly growing global population, continued degradation of natural spaces, and an ever-expanding wealth disparity, more and more people are losing access to suitable shelter. Currently 1 billion people live in overcrowded settlements with inadequate housing. The United Nations introduced World Habitat Day, celebrated on the first Monday of every October, to raise awareness about this issue. Wild Tomorrow Fund is focused on a different type of habitat: habitat for wildlife. But these two issues are very much interlinked. Read more below in our latest blog for World Habitat Day.

The Msinene River, the northern border of Wild Tomorrow Fund’s Ukuwela Nature Reserve

We live in a rapidly urbanizing world. Today, 55% of the world’s population lives in cities. Cities are hubs for jobs and training, finance, culture and innovation, drawing more and more people from rural areas. By 2050, UN Habitat estimates the world’s urban population will grow to 68% of the total population. But what does this mean for nature?

 Despite covering only 2-3% of total landmass, cities are responsible for 75% of all the natural resources that are consumed on our planet. In other words, the ecological footprint of cities extends far beyond their boundaries. They are the biggest global greenhouse gas emitters, waste producers, water consumers, and energy sinks. Hungry growing cities place inexhaustible demand on nature’s resources. Every year, we use far more natural resources than our planet can renew in a year. Every year we blow this ecological budget earlier and earlier and at our current rate of resource use we'd need 1.75 planets to support our demand on Earth's ecosystems. Our collective hunger for natural resources is driving the crisis of biodiversity loss. And yet it is cities that hold the key to a sustainable future for people, wildlife and our planet.

This is truly a human problem, but there is a misconception that humans and nature are separate. In reality, our lives are constantly dependent on nature, regulated by what are known as ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are the services provided by nature that provide us with food and clean water, wood and fiber for buildings and our clothes, and biomass for fuels. Nature’s services also regulate disease transmission, our climate patterns, and nutrient and chemical cycling. Nature truly is our life support system. It was estimated that if ecosystem services had a monetary value, they would be worth $44 trillion annually in today’s money.

World Habitat Day is not only a day to address the inaccessibility of adequate human shelter, but also to address the impact that human activity is having on many of these ecosystem services that make our habitats habitable. Disruption of these services is being seen across the world, from the continuing water crisis in Flint, Michigan, to the air quality of Mumbai. Wild Tomorrow Fund is taking steps in order to protect and support ecosystem services in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, not only for the wildlife, but for the people that rely on them.

Wild Tomorrow Fund Ranger Sam Dladla releasing a bird at Ukuwela Reserve

We are in the process of establishing the Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve, a 3000+ acre stretch of newly protected space for nature. Located in one of only 36 recognized global biodiversity hotspots, this corridor will re-connect two important regional nature reserves on a landscape scale, giving wildlife access to more land, multiple habitat types, and restoring portions of former migratory routes. This will benefit endangered and iconic species such as rhinos, elephants, African wild dogs, cheetahs, hyenas, hippos, giraffes and more, as well as an extensive diversity of plant life.  Importantly in the context of World Habitat Day, this corridor would restore interrupted ecosystem services to the KwaZulu-Natal region while also creating employment for local people.

Just as ecosystems are a complicated web of interactions, the benefits of restoring habitat creates many cascading benefits for nature and people. The protection of the Msinene River and the restoration of its wetland habitat will provide clean water for people and also for wildlife including fish, water birds and hippos. By removing alien plants this gives space for endemic reed species to return, which provide resources for traditional thatched housing. The increased density of native plants will promote pollinators and soil-improving invertebrates and provide a sustainable source of native fruits for harvesting. Expanded and re-connected habitat paired with fencing will greatly reduce human-wildlife conflict, keeping predators from livestock, herbivores from crops, and limiting the reciprocal transmission of diseases.

There are multiple pieces to this puzzle, but we, as a global community, need to actively work to solve it. Our cities need to become more sustainable and place less demands on nature’s resources. As more people move to cities, this becomes increasingly important. It also gives nature more space – a bit of breathing room so that it can provide the services needed for healthy human habitats.

In the words of the UN Secretary General in his message for World Habitat Day this year, “As we strive to overcome the pandemic, address the fragilities and inequalities it has exposed, and combat climate change, now is the time to harness the transformative potential of urbanization for the benefit of people and planet.”